The basic problems with our (Pakistan) cricket - Afridi

Pakistan cricket has problems, an understatement that we’re all aware of.

But many of us don’t actually realise the extent, or the variety, of the problems or why we face them. For some countries, it’s a weak board that either has no vision or is corrupt. The Zimbabwe board, for example, has been accused of all sorts of wrong-doing and of being extremely corrupt, lacking the administrative or the creative ability to lead the country out of its current plight.

Problems aren’t just with the minnows though. The Pakistan Cricket Board has constantly been accused of procrastination, of a lack of vision and being weak when faced with player-power. And there’s the omnipresent talk of financial mismanagement. There is also an absence of a developed infrastructure and a shortage of grounds to play on. It’s so cold in Canada for the majority of the year that outdoor cricket is virtually impossible most of the time. And there is a limit to the financial funding one can get to build indoor stadiums, especially for a sport that is not exactly mainstream.

But a country like Pakistan has this problem too. Even though we all admit that cricket is like religion in this country and it’s a passion like nothing else, we lack the infrastructure and the grass-root development to ensure that anyone who has a love for the game will get easy access to facilities as well.

Then there is the shortage of talent faced by some nations. Like New Zealand where the bulk of the youth heads off to the rugby fields. Or the Netherlands where the first love is football and hockey. Or even England where they have a lot of other mainstream sports like football and rugby. But hey, everyone is cricket-crazy here, so we don’t have that problem right?

No, Pakistan also ends up being faced with a shortage of talent too. The talent is there but our biased board or the partisan selection committee often fails to see it and keeps on selecting the same old faces who have been weighed, who have been measured and who have been, repeatedly, found wanting.

And there is the issue of a good domestic league that is holding some nations back from becoming cricketing giants. This is especially true for minnows and countries that are still trying to build a cricketing base. But here again, the problem exists. For years, Imran Khan has been saying that we need to give up on departmental cricket and start regional cricket. This leads to the fact that most of the departments all but backed out from the domestic circuit. However, what failed to happen was the development of a good regional format that could replace departmental cricket and thus ensure the steady development of talent.

It is sad, that over the past 50 years that Pakistan has been playing cricket, we have failed to do away with any of the teething problems, thus holding us back from taking the much-loved sport to the next level.